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Results: 46 - 60 of 262
View Luc Berthold Profile
CPC (QC)
My understanding is that, as a politician, in government or anywhere, it's very risky to set a deadline for an issue of this nature, which involves so many variables. It can take twice as long to build a plant in some parts of Canada than in areas near ports and equipment.
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 11:48
True, but setting a goal sometimes gets people engaged and motivated to work towards it. The department is continuing to work with the goal of meeting the deadlines. We still have work to do.
The minister said in November that we wouldn't meet the deadline. However, I think that we're in a good position to fulfil our goal, given our funding, the team in place, our relationship with the communities, the partnership created and the transparency of our approach.
There's work to be done and we're being challenged, but we want to work in a partnership.
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Chair
Thank you to the Auditor General for the report.
I have lot of questions.
Just to Mr. Berthold's earlier comment, I spent a lot of time last night reading through all the documents, including Mr. Webber's comments on the funds and programs that we've committed to the indigenous community across Canada in the budget that we recently introduced. I'm very happy to see the continuing investments, of course. I would have loved to have received this detailed action plan last night to have been able to review it a little more extensively. I have gone through it now, so I'm going to go to that right now.
Just on the O and M side, is the 100% commitment in the funding formula in place today for the indigenous communities?
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Okay, so there's no cost-sharing, as in municipal, provincial or federal sharing. Is it all in place?
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you.
In paragraph 2.3, where you break out a number of items in numerical amounts, what is the annual commitment to O and M? It's going to be growing as more water advisories are lifted and more water treatment plants and purification systems come online, so I would love to know what the annual commitment is if someone could come back with that. I was trying to go through the numbers and I would love to get to where it says what we are spending and investing in ensuring that indigenous communities have safe and clean water systems.
That's great to hear, because that is a big thing that was pointed out in the AG's report.
Second, holistically, with the budget commitment that we recently introduced, approximately $42 billion is being invested into the indigenous communities across Canada, so it's great to see that, and I just wanted to point that out. That includes the $11 billion from the prior government.
On the payments to the individuals running the water treatment plants, is that a decision by each of the indigenous communities themselves to make, or is that in partnership with the federal government?
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 11:51
In terms of the water operators and the salaries for the water operators, it is the decision of the communities to make and to establish the rates. However, obviously, with the increase in O and M that we can give to the communities, they have the ability to have competitive salaries in their communities.
To answer your question around the yearly basis, in 2021 O and M is $338 million, I believe, and by 2025 we're going to be at about $400 million per year on O and M.
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
In regard to the contracting, putting out the bid and the request for proposal for these treatment plants, obviously there is an economies of scale perspective. Does that happen from the federal government and it is then turned over to the indigenous community so that each indigenous community doesn't have to develop its own expertise in order to do this? Is it done through a partnership? Can you describe that process?
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 11:52
Yes, absolutely. Thank you for the question.
It definitely is a partnership process. At the federal government, we do not want to be selecting contractors for indigenous communities. We would like the indigenous leadership to make those choices. However, we do want to work with them. If they require supports, information or additional capacity to work with contractors, we're absolutely prepared to do that, but at the end of the day we really want them to be making the decisions that are best for them.
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
I am a numbers person. I like to think about the world in that sort of sense. On page 4 of your introductory remarks, you said there were 105 long-term drinking water advisories in November 2015. Obviously, more have been added as we go along, and some have been taken off. There were 106 lifted.
When we introduce interim measures, which obviously mean that water can be consumed, and so forth, are they lifted and then counted as lifted advisories, or are they put in a separate bucket of projects that are still ongoing? How do we account for that when we use interim measures?
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 11:53
If there is an interim measure, yes, it could lift the water advisory. What we try to do is work with communities to make sure that if the interim measures are in place and we lift the advisory, we still work with them on the longer-term solution. I think what this additional funding allows is for us to do that work with them.
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Okay.
Finally, on the resources dedicated to lifting all the water advisories, obviously COVID-19 has delayed many things on the construction side, even in terms of going to certain communities because we don't want the COVID-19 virus or any of the variants there, but are the resources sufficient to lift the remaining long-term water advisories?
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 11:54
Yes. We have a long-term commitment of funding of O and M. It's for capital infrastructure and for O and M funding, and I would say that the O and M funding is key because it allows us to track and monitor and avoid deficiencies in the long term.
View Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My first questions are for Ms. Fox.
Good morning and welcome to the committee, Ms. Fox.
I suppose that it isn't very pleasant for you to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts today. We know that the Auditor General tabled a less than glowing report in Parliament on your organization's work to meet the basic need of providing safe drinking water to indigenous communities. This basic need is more than vital. You'll agree that the report speaks for itself.
I know that some progress has been made and that many initiatives have been put in place to address the issue. I just want you to clearly state whether you find it acceptable that, for over 10 years, communities have had to boil their water on a daily basis before consuming it.
Results: 46 - 60 of 262 | Page: 4 of 18

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